The Scientific Legacy of Bruno Rossi

Bruno Benedetto Rossi September 16 (Venice, 1905 – Cambridge, Mass, 1993) Archivio Antico – Palazzo del Bo

Bruno Rossi is one of the great physicists who in the last century Chair : Antonio Bassetto (Università di Padova) renewed the modern science. 9.30: Welcome Address He studied at the University of Padua and received his doctorate in 10.00: George W. Clark (M.I.T.) physics at the University of Bologna in 1927. He started his academic career at the University of Florence and held the chair in physics in “Bruno Rossi: the Man and the Scientist” Padua from 1932 to 1938, when the Fascist regime dismissed him, as 11.00: Alberto Bonetti (Università di Firenze) a result of its notorius racial laws. “Bruno Rossi’s Legacy” Bruno Rossi then spent short periods in Copenhagen, Manchester, 12.00: Livio Scarsi (Università di Palermo) Chicago and at Cornell University. From 1943 to 1946 he was at the “Fun in Cosmic Rays with Bruno” Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, where the atomic bomb was 12.30: Lunch developed. He went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1946 as a Chair : Gianni Zumerle (Università di Padova) professor of physics, where he was named Institute Professor, a rank 15.30: Alan A. Watson (University of Leeds) reserved for scholars of special distinction. After his retirement from “Studying Cosmic Rays with Extensive Air MIT he was offered a chair as a professor in physics by the Italian Showers” Government and he chose to teach at the University of Palermo, 16.30: Coffee break where he remained from 1974 to 1980. Dr. Rossi's career paralleled the evolution of cosmic-ray physics. His 17.00: Claude R. Canizares (M.I.T.) investigations of cosmic rays and their interactions with matter laid “X-Ray Astronomy” the foundation for high-energy particle physics. He proved the corpuscolar nature of this radiation and its interaction with the September 17 Earth’s magnetic field. He also discovered that individual cosmic Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti rays, colliding with atoms, often generate large numbers of secondary particles, known as showers. Chair : Massimilla Baldo Ceolin (Università di Padova) His interest in this bombardment from space led him into space 11.00: Roberto Petronzio (Presidente I.N.F.N.) research. He and his colleagues built a detector with which the Explorer X satellite in 1961 discovered the magnetopause. He also “The Impact of Bruno Rossi on the Italian initiated the exploratory search for cosmic X-rays that in 1963 Physics after the War and his Legacy” resulted in the discovery of the strong Scorpio X-ray source. The 12.00: Bruno Coppi (M.I.T.) discovery marked the beginning of X-ray astronomy, which soon “High Energy Plasma in the Universe” became a principal tool of astrophysics research. 13.00: Lunch He devised several instrumental techniques, starting from a fundamental electronic device for experimental high-energy nuclear Chair : Alessandro Pascolini (Università di Padova) physics and a basic element of modern computers. 15.30: Paolo De Bernardis (Univ. di Roma “La Sapienza”) As a teacher, he inspired leaders in higher learning and industry, and “Experimental Cosmology” he formed a generation of talented researchers in physics and 16.30: Roman W. Jackiw (M.I.T.) astrophysics. “The M.I.T. – Italy Connection” The University of Padua in honouring the hundredth anniversary of 17.30: Antonio Bassetto (Università di Padova) his birth, renews its deep gratitude for his activity there and his great Concluding Remarks contributions to modern science.